tossing all my jewel cases and sleeves... (1 Viewer)

[Ted Lee]

3. now i have direct access (from my ht gear ... not my pc) to my songs. it's really no different then a cd jukebox hooked directly to your ht stack.

again, this might be a good option for you since you want to think of this component in terms of ht gear...not pc gear.

 

[Mike Broadman]

Am I missing something here... even if you copy all your files and play all your music on your computers, don't you still have to put the CDs somewhere? No space is actually saved by doing this.

 

[BrianB]

A cardboard box of CDs takes up much less space in a closet/cupboard than bookshelves lined along a wall.

 

[Ted Lee]

right. by "digitally storing" all the cd's, you can box them up and put them away. instead of literally taking up a whole wall worth of space and (in wifey's opinion) creating a decorating nightmare. i can simply store them in a few boxes in the office closet.

this provides me near-instant accessibility to my collection ... albeit at a loss of sound quality.

for me, the argument still is accessibility to the cd's -- which is where those discsox sleeves you recommended come in handy. i still like to listen to the actual cd...plus my car only has a cd changer -- no mp3 capability. :frowning:

 

[Mike Broadman]

Plus liner notes. Does no one actually want to look at those sometimes? Well, maybe it means more to a jazz fan because we need to know who's playing and look at session information.

 

[Ted Lee]

regarding liner notes, i pretty much never look at them.

1. i don't care who they have to thank (although i do like to know who produced the album)
2. most lyrics are so trite they drive me crazy
3. i can look at pictures of them online

 

[Mike Keith]

Remember guys, you don’t have to lose any audio quality when digitally storing your files. In addition, I have a separate hard drive connected to my home computer and play music while surfing the internet without a problem. IMO, MP3 is not even an option for quality home listening, APE loss-less and EAC ripper is the way to go if you don’t want to lose any quality. My 250Mbdrive has about 12,000 songs on it and still plenty of room to spare, perfect sound quality that could no be distinguished between a HQ CD player if your using your processors DAC’s like most do. The best part is the interface totally kicks-ass, once you try something like this you will never use a CD player again, I promise.

Only problem is getting your entire collection Ripped, after that keeping up with new discs is no problem.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Ted: You can't copy the CDs directly from the built-in player to the hard drive?!?! That seems nuts that you have to go from the CD to the PC and then the PC to the HD if the HD unit has a CD player built right in to it!

I am really liking your idea. But doubt that its within my affordability zone right now!

 

[Ted Lee]

yeah, you actually can mike - if you have it hooked up to the internet it will even pull info from cddb (or one of those online databases). but iirc, it's kinda slow (like maybe 4x or 8x). my burner does 24x or 48x (or whatever it is now) -- so it's much faster. plus i "batch burn and copy" a lot of the time ... so it's just easier for me to mass-copy everything to the media center in one shot.

as far as cost goes, this thing is relatively cheap. it's been discontued for some time ... so i think you can find them online pretty cheap. but it's totally hackable ... bigger hd, linux, etc. i haven't geeked out to that extent ... at least not yet.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Well, there's one up on eBay now with a few days left at $125. Will probably get much higher.

But is this the only machine of its kind around? I guess HP didn't do well with this baby? This seems like just the kind of thing I want. Usually when that happens I find there are lots of other people around who want the same thing and that the items has already been invented and is being manufactured--a hundred times over. I'm surprised there aren't more options to collectively digitally store these digital music files. It just seems to make so much sense.

Again, I keep getting back to the idea that its the exact same concept as an iPod--but instead of for personal music-listening (headphones)...its for room music-listening (your existing speakers/audio/HT gear set-up.

 

[Allen Hirsch]

I saw a rig somewhere recently that was essentially a wall-unit to attach/hold your iPod, which was a control panel then connected to your existing HT/audio setup - pretty similar to what you're suggesting, but using the MP3 player as the storage unit source for music.

This does make too much sense - except it freaks the music companies to have us digitize our entire CD collections, even if it is only for personal use. That may be holding it back.

 

[Citizen87645]

The latest issue of Sound and Vision has an article about whole house integration of the iPod. Basically you can install one or multiple in-wall interfaces that connects to your existing whole house system. Pretty slick concept.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Ted: I've gone back and read a bunch of reviews about the HP product that you're using. All these reviews are from when when the product was released, of course, (late '01, early '02) and most users seemed to think that based on the $1000 MSRP, anyone could do better by buying a new computer and dedicating it to multi-media uses.

It would seem to me that even based on used prices for the unit, you would get more processing power, storage size, versatility today by assemblying your own PC--for a relatively cheap price.

I guess its the intended integration of the hp de100c into your existing system and the TV interface that make it so intriguing. But ripping the CDs directly into a dedicated HT PC would be so much more convenient...

However, integrating a PC and monitor into my equipment-space considerations seems problematic.

I continue to be stunned that someone hasn't "made their million-dollars" by marketing such a product. The "iPod for your home stereo system". But while the storage needs and audio quality issues are all important, I think its the actual user's interface that would make or break such a device. You've got to easily be able to find the CD you want to play...and easily select and play the tracks you want..in the order you want them.

 

[Citizen87645]

Streaming audio from your existing home computer to your stereo is much more sophisticated and "sexy." As more people are putting in wireless networks in their homes it's a natural fit to have a device that simply accesses what you already have, rather than duplicating it in a box located in your living room. The Roku and Slim Devices products are a couple of the high end ones, but just about every wireless network manufacturer seems to have something. Apple's Aiport Express allows streaming of your iTunes library, but is basically hobbled by the fact you still must go to your computer to control the music.

As Mike said user interface is the key. A friend of mine really likes the DLink product's interface.

 

[Allen Hirsch]

The system I mentioned earlier in this thread was in June's Home Theater magazine: Sonance iPort in-wall docking system for the iPod.

 

[Will_B]

Same here. Maybe the equipment manufacturers are afraid that if they create a componant in which one pops in one's CD and conveniently rips it to memory chips, that they'd be sued for the potential of people misusing the componant? Plus, some music CDs put copy protection stuff on their CDs which could interfere with the product's intended legal use.

I'd really love such a device. I currently have a 100-CD carousel, but what I want is a device that stores my entire music collection all on chips.

I'd also like it to be able to store multichannel music too, not just stereo. And ideally I'd like no compression - I want the stored memory to be the same quality as the CDs or SACDs I put into it.

And I don't want it to be a computer! Fans and slow start up times are not what I want when I want to flip a switch and immediately have music. It must be a standalone componant with an on/off switch.

I'd pay up to $400 for such a thing.

I can't believe that I have to consider buying a 200-CD carousel (or larger) in this day and age. It seems so primitive and mechanical.

 

[Ted Lee]

good points mike. i should mention that i received it for free, but i certainly agree i would *never* pay 1k for it.exactly how i feel about it.

the sonance iport is really cool...if i was wiring up my own house, i would definitely integrate that bad boy into my system.

guo's right on the money about the ease and appeal of wireless. i definitely feel that it's "smarter" to simply access something that is already on my pc then have to transfer another copy to my media server. it's kinda like duplicating bytes when i don't really need to.

but, when i'm having a party, it's really cool to show off --- people love playing with it.

 

[Mike Keith]

I use a Viewsonic Airpanel for wireless remote interface of my music server, it's great. It has a touch screen interface and a docking station and is good for about 100' from my wireless G router. The Cinemar software has some neat features for parties; one mode is Jukebox mode that has a interface just like a commercial jukebox, even a virtual coin slot to get 3 credits. This jukebox mode also locks guests out of any other functions (password protected) so you can just leave it alone without fear of someone doing something that will mess up the server. Another nice thing about the Airpanel is that you can surf the Internet wirelessly from anywhere in the range, I use it on my patio, even done some AutoCAD drawings on it.

If your really into music quality and have a large collection I don’t know of anything better, and I’ve done a lot of research, if you don’t care about sound quality then the ipod house system will probably do just fine.

 

[BrianB]

I use XboxMediaCentre for my interface & get the same reaction, people absolutely love the concept & the execution.

 

[DavidNighorn]

Having used a Squeezebox for a while and having dreamed of the 'killer app', I think that the computer is inevitable. My bold prediction is that a large number of households will have a data server with a terabyte or two of storage. This computer will be used to manage a wide variety of household functions including music and movie storage.

I am in the process of building one of these now with the intent that it resides, unseen and unheard, in a coat closet. From my listening room, I'll be able to request and hear any album from my music collection. In my home theater, I'll be able to scroll through the collection and watch any DVD - including extras.

The Squeezebox is really a miraculous product and it highlights the possibilities that lay just ahead.

David